Langit biru sangat indah.

The blue sky is very beautiful.

Breakdown of Langit biru sangat indah.

• adalah: to be
• sangat: very
• langit: the sky
• indah: beautiful
• biru: blue

Questions & Answers about Langit biru sangat indah.

Why is there no word for “is” in this sentence?

Malay usually doesn’t use a separate word for “is / am / are” when linking a noun and an adjective.

In Langit biru sangat indah, the structure is:

• Langit – sky
• biru – blue
• sangat indah – very beautiful

Malay just puts them together without a verb:

• Langit biru sangat indah.
  Literally: Sky blue very beautiful.

So there is no direct equivalent of “is” here. The connection “the sky is very beautiful” is understood from the word order, not from a separate verb.

Which word means “sky” and which word means “blue”?

Word-by-word:

• Langit – sky
• biru – blue
• sangat – very
• indah – beautiful (in an aesthetic / poetic sense)

So langit biru = blue sky.

Why does “blue” come after “sky”, not before it like in English?

Malay usually puts adjectives after the noun they describe.

• English: blue sky (adjective + noun)
• Malay: langit biru (noun + adjective)

More examples:

• rumah besar – big house
• kereta merah – red car
• baju baru – new shirt

So langit biru follows the normal Malay pattern: noun + adjective.

What exactly does “sangat” mean, and where does it go in the sentence?

Sangat means “very” or “extremely”. It is an intensifier used before an adjective.

In Langit biru sangat indah:

• indah – beautiful
• sangat indah – very beautiful

Position:

• It comes before the adjective it intensifies:
  • sangat indah – very beautiful
  • sangat besar – very big
  • sangat sedih – very sad

You would not say indah sangat in standard Malay for “very beautiful” (though you might hear indah sangat in some informal speech, often with a slightly different emphasis).

What’s the difference between “indah” and “cantik”? Could I say “Langit biru sangat cantik”?

Both indah and cantik can translate as “beautiful”, but they feel a bit different:

• indah

  • More poetic, elevated, or aesthetic.
  • Often used for scenery, nature, art, music, language:
    • pemandangan yang indah – beautiful scenery
    • lagu yang indah – a beautiful (touching) song

• cantik

  • More everyday, often used for physical attractiveness or “pretty” things.
  • Common with people, clothes, objects:
    • dia cantik – she is pretty
    • baju cantik – pretty clothes

You can say Langit biru sangat cantik, and people will understand it as “The blue sky is very beautiful / pretty.”
Using indah just sounds slightly more poetic and natural when talking about skies, landscapes, and similar “scene” type things.

Are “biru” and “indah” both adjectives? How can there be two adjectives after the noun?

Yes, both biru and indah are adjectives:

• biru – blue
• indah – beautiful

In Langit biru sangat indah, you can think of it as:

• langit biru – the blue sky (noun phrase)
• sangat indah – (it is) very beautiful

So biru directly describes langit, forming a noun phrase: langit biru.
Then sangat indah describes the state or quality of that sky as a whole.

You could roughly map it to:

• Langit biru – The blue sky
• (itu) sangat indah. – (it) is very beautiful.

Malay allows this kind of structure without adding a separate “it” or “is.”

Could I change the word order and say “Langit sangat indah biru”?

No, Langit sangat indah biru is not natural Malay.

Correct, natural options include:

• Langit biru sangat indah. – The blue sky is very beautiful.
• Langit sangat indah. – The sky is very beautiful.
• Langit sangat biru. – The sky is very blue.

If you want to keep both biru and indah, better alternatives are:

• Langit biru itu sangat indah. – That blue sky is very beautiful.
• Langit sangat biru dan indah. – The sky is very blue and beautiful.

In standard Malay, adjectives generally follow a more fixed order and don’t just stack freely at the end without connectors like dan (and).

How would I say “The sky is very beautiful today” using this pattern?

You can add hari ini (“today”) to the sentence:

• Langit hari ini sangat indah.
  Literally: Sky today very beautiful.

You can also place hari ini at the end:

• Langit sangat indah hari ini.

Both are commonly used and understood as “The sky is very beautiful today.”

How do I say “The sky is not very beautiful”?

Use tidak to negate adjectives:

• Langit tidak begitu indah. – The sky is not that beautiful.
• Langit tidak sangat indah. – The sky is not very beautiful. (less common, but understandable)

Begitu often sounds more natural than tidak sangat in this context:

• tidak begitu indah = “not so/that beautiful.”

Is “langit” always without an article like “the” or “a”?

Malay does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”. Whether langit means “sky”, “a sky”, or “the sky” depends on context.

In Langit biru sangat indah, we naturally translate it as “The blue sky is very beautiful” because we usually talk about the sky in a general/definite way.

If you really want to emphasize “that sky / the sky (specific one)”, you can add:

• itu – that / the (specific)
  
  • Langit biru itu sangat indah. – That blue sky is very beautiful.

But in many cases, just Langit biru sangat indah is enough and will be understood as “the blue sky is very beautiful.”